“It’s time for urgent action on the cost of living” says Citizens Advice Medway

26^th August 2022

Citizens Advice Medway has responded to today’s announcement of a rise to the energy price cap. This comes as the charity faces record demand for crisis support, with more people seeking support over the past few months than across the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Friday 26^th August, the energy regulator Ofgem announced the new price cap – setting the maximum price suppliers can charge for each unit of energy you use. This has now been set at £3,549 for October 2022.

The team at Citizens Advice Medway have been inundated with enquiries about what they can do to manage the increasing cost of gas and electric over the past few months and the team knows it will get much worse in October.

Citizens Advice Medway’s CEO Dan McDonald said: “It’s time for urgent action on the cost of living. The scale of this crisis is unlike anything we’ve seen, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re helping more people with foodbank referrals and access to benefits and grants than ever before because people simply cannot put food on the table.

We’ve seen hundreds of examples of parents skipping meals on a regular basis to make sure they can put food on the table for their children. In extreme cases, people without children are simply skipping meals to make sure they can keep the lights on. The current measures won’t help everyone – and Residents will be feeling the pressure. Surely this cannot be allowed to continue".

When asked about the measures already put in place by the government, Dan McDonald said: “Those measures were a good starting point but woefully inadequate compared to the escalating crisis. It won’t make a difference anymore to the thousands of households across Medway that will go without food, gas, and electric this winter. More has to be done and I’ll be putting out immediate calls to political leaders locally to participate in roundtable discussions about what support can be put in place for Medway residents that has a real social impact.

The new Prime Minister needs to implement long term measures otherwise anything new that’s put in place in response to the October cap increase will be negated just like the previously announced measures to combat the first cap hike.

People can’t wait any longer. Our Money Advice Team, Veterans project, and other departments have all seen a huge spike in people falling into debt, food poverty, and being cut off from gas and electric supplies because there simply isn’t any way of increasing their household income after all possible measures have been put in place. The measures announced by the government are simply not enough anymore.”

Research done by Citizens Advice shows that 53% of people who’ll be in the red come October won’t receive the additional cost of living payments targeted at people on benefits, disabled people, and low income pensioners. With future prices rapidly outpacing the value of the energy rebate, Citizens Advice Medway is hopeful that new support can be put in place to combat the cap rise in October, but the volunteers there are also fully aware that the cap rise in January 2023 will likely negate whatever new measures may come into effect.

Even with the current government support measures, 1 in 5 people (21%) in the UK won’t be able to pay their energy bills in October. This could jump to 1 in 3 (36%) when the cap increases in January 2023.

Nationally representative polling commissioned by Citizens Advice in January 2022 shows that huge numbers will be unable to afford April’s price cap rise¹:

More than one in seven (16%) would not be able to cover the anticipated average price cap rise of £60 per month. That is equivalent to around 8.5 million people.
This rises to over a quarter (27%) of disabled people and more than a third (36%) of people on Universal Credit.
Almost one in 10 (9%) are already in energy arrears, even before the price cap rise.
Today’s increase will affect at least 22 million households - nearly 80% of the national market - who are on the price cap.

Please contact us for support now on our usual channels:

· PHONE – 01634 383760

· EMAIL – info@medwayadvice.org.uk

· WEBSITE – www.medwayadvice.org.uk

Notes to editors

Based on a representative poll of 6,000 adults (18+) in the UK conducted by ICM Unlimited for Citizens Advice, fieldwork conducted between 7 and 25 January 2022.
Citizens Advice includes the national charity; the network of independent local Citizens Advice charities across England and Wales; the Citizens Advice consumer service; and the Witness Service.
Citizens Advice is the statutory consumer advocate for energy and post. We provide supplier performance information to consumers and policy analysis to decision makers.
Citizens Advice’s services are free, independent, confidential and impartial, and available to all regardless of race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion, age or nationality.
To get advice you can call Citizens Advice Medway on 01634 383 760.
Citizens Advice staff are supported by over 23,000 trained volunteers, working at over 2,500 locations in England and Wales.